Attalla family’s foster home, Open Arms, gives special care

By Bari Cohn

Staff Writer

Mira Costa sophomore Alex Attalla and her family have opened their arms to the children at the family’s medical foster home, Open Arms.

Alex Attalla’s mother, Xochitl Attalla, owns the Open Arms foster care facility located in Inglewood, which provides live-in care for children who are medically fragile. Nurses and a full-time staff at the home provide the children at Open Arms with around-the-clock care. Alex Attalla has been involved in her family’s foster home program for all of her life, and she currently volunteers there each weekend.

“Both my brother, Matthew Attalla, and I lived here when we were younger, so I have gotten very attached to the home, as well as the kids that live there,” Alex Attalla said. “It is a great experience being able to volunteer each weekend, and I enjoy getting to hang out with all of the kids.”

Xochitl Attalla received her license to start the home in 1990, which originally only housed two children. The home has since grown to house the current number of six children who live at Open Arms full time now. The Open Arms home began as an infant medical care home, and, in 2006, it evolved into a medical foster home that specializes in caring for foster children with severe medical conditions, such as those who have trouble breathing on their own or are in need of a wheelchair. Alex Attalla participates in the foster home by socializing with the children  as much as she can during their time at the home.

“A lot of the children cannot walk or talk,” Alex Attalla said. “I enjoy playing with them because most people don’t give them that option.”

Xochitl Attalla became passionate about opening an intermediate care facility after she noticed the need for better quality homes for children with severe medical conditions during the time she spent working at an infant play therapy group for foster children, she said.

“I wanted to give these foster children the opportunity to receive adequate medical and interactive care if they have not been able to get it elsewhere, before being either reunited with their families or, in some cases, adopted,” Xochitl Attallasaid.

In order to prevent the repercussions of the parents’ neglect on the children, Open Arms hopes to ensure the safety and positive quality of life for the children by providing them with constant care. The children who stay at Open Arms normally come from home situation in which their biological parents do not have the resources and/or ability to properly care for them. Most of the children have also spent months in a hospital prior to living in Open Arms, and the hospital did not provide constant interactive care, Xochitl Attalla said. Open Arms has a multi-member staff that is awake 24 hours day to ensure the children are safe and healthy at all times.

“Most of these children spent a lot of time in a hospital where many of the nurses were not able to provide them with a lot of the interactive attention that they may need,” Xochitl Attalla said. “Our volunteers and staff are able to provide the children with the chance to feel loved and accepted, even by something as simple as being held.”

Xochitl Attalla said  that she has thought about opening another care facility sometime in the future. She hopes doing so would provide more care opportunities for children with medical handicaps because of the proper treatments she would ensure.

“When my mom eventually retires, I will hopefully be able to take over the business myself,” Alex Attalla said. “I hope to continue improving these children’s lives and giving them the best care possible.”